The FDA has issued an order expanding labeling requirements from Food Manufacturers and Packagers to Restaurants, Self-Serve Stations and Grocery Stores. All must start providing nutritional label information. This is causing a scramble to comply. Many of you are using automated reporting systems. Food offered for sale must be labeled (raw produce and fish are voluntary).
A question comes up in your form: Prepared and Un-Prepared Label?
FDA uses the terms ‘as prepared’ and ‘as packaged’. Now things start to make more sense!
- Breakfast Cereal is sold ‘as packaged’ but may be served ‘as prepared’ with milk. This becomes a second column in your nutritional label panel. Add the nutritional information from all ingredients to determine the ‘as prepared’ column.
- Cake mix –a more complicated example: Your powder mix will have one column for its nutritional value -’as packaged’. However the second column may include the sum of nutritional values for eggs, liquids, etc.., of the baked cake!
Try to avoid non-FDA terms like ‘un-prepared’ label and you will be fine.
And that’s your Nuggitz™ for today!